Tag Archives | food

We are so grateful to LARABAR for sharing with us her amazing product. Simple, Pure, and Delicious. LARABAR believes the foundation of a sound mind, body and spirit is derived by what we eat. They are passionate about creating delicious, convenient snacks that are made from just a few, simple ingredients.

Created in May, 2000 by Lara Merriken, LARABAR was born. Starting with five original flavors: Cherry Pie, Apple Pie, Cashew Cookie, Banana Cookie, and Chocolate Coconut Chew, (featured here in front of The Bowery Mission) Lara launched the business. The first 500 bars sealed by hand. Today, millions of LARABAR bars are produced every year.

Lara says, “A passion for healthy living soon followed, and continues to be a driving force behind everything I do professionally and personally. I really appreciate the opportunity I have to make a positive difference in the world we live in. Health is our greatest wealth.”

This healthy snack food is for the herbal lover. ME! We love our herbs over here, and not that kind of herb, but, ya know, the other herb. ha! We’ve started implementing all sorts of herbs and tonics into our diet. So many of them, do so many wonderful things that I don’t even know where to start. However, I know now, that the mushroom, is (was) one of nature’s best kept secrets.

Four Sigma Foods, is a super rad company, making life on the run, easy to stay healthy. Their foods contain the wonderful beauty, reishi. Let me tell you, we have started using reishi from a few different companies, and it does wonders. It supports the adrenal glands and immune system, it’s one of the highest sources of antioxidants in the nature and it helps you keep a bulletproof immunity to stay healthy. Also, it can keep that ever dreaded stress at bay. Yes, please, I’ll drink it all!

I hope everyone had a great weekend! We are continuing our healthy, eating/snacking series over here, with a little love towards our little ones. We can’t forget about them!

When we had Eleanor, I said I would make her food, when she was ready for solids. I said a lot of things, but…Well, I attempted it once, and to be honest, it wasn’t for me or her. (don’t judge. ha!) So my quest began for the perfect, organic, baby food. There weren’t many options, that I found and felt comfortable with. However, the one we kept reading about and seeing was Earth’s Best. So, that’s who we started with. Eleanor loves her options, and there are many to choose from, so, that’s who we’ve been with since day one!

Earth’s Best has a simple mission, “Earth’s Best Organic provides “better for baby” products with the freshest, purest ingredients, so parents can nurture their baby’s health with the utmost confidence.”

Eleanor had a chance to taste a few of their newer products, and she was thrilled with them. Luckily, we don’t have a picky eater over here, so we are pretty lucky there. Another thing we love about Earth’s Best, is the variety of items we have to choose from. We like to give Eleanor choices. This way she can learn the taste of different foods. I am still fully breastfeeding, so her meals with Earth Best tend to be a very small lunch, and a larger dinner. We also do give her avocado and banana. She really is a wonderful little eater.

We have been huge fans of Plum organics for some time now. They always seem to be up on the latest food-on-the-go options. Which we feel is so important these days. We are all busy, we seem to be running in 90 different directions, and some days the last thing we want to do is cook. Well, at least me. Plum Organics not only feeds your children, they are feeding adults too.

Their Plum vida line is an easy, on-the-go drink, certified organic, only 70-90 calories, and no GMO’s. Yes!! Created by the women of Plum, Plum vida, is a organic blend of fruits and veggies that will bring snacking to a whole new level for you. The best part about the drink, is that you can have them at room temperature, chilled, or even blended. It really is a healthy, go-to, for that on-the-run person.

One of their products that we have loved trying, are their new organic soups in a pouch. Easy, single serve pouch. What could be better on those long days, when slaving over a stove does not sound appealing. Ha! They come in three flavors, that kids will love too! chicken fiesta, chicken noodle, and tomato and turkey meatball. All three are great!

We try to eat everything organic in our home. It’s what we have chosen for our family. Of course it’s not always possible, but, Plum Organics sure makes it easier for us.

***This post is sponsored by Plum Organics, although like always, our opinions are definitely our own***

My quest continues to find the healthiest, no sugar, desserts. I’m still off the sugar, and doing pretty good. No cheats, yet! These are seriously the best darn lemon bars I’ve ever had. My husband loved them too. My girlfriend, Angela, who happens to be guiding me through this whole process, sent me this recipe. By the way, if you happen to be in the Omaha area, you can find her services here, and she is well worth every penny. Trust me! Not only is she a personal trainer, she knows the ins and outs of nutrition. I wanted to share this recipe, because, well, it’s the bomb!!!

For the crust:

2 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil

2 tablespoons honey

1 cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut

1/2 cup almond flour

Pinch of salt

1 egg white

For the filling:

3 eggs + 2 egg yolks

1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup lemon juice

1 tablespoon lemon zest (about 2 lemons)

1/3 cup almond flour

Optional topping:

sprinkle with coconut flour

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Line a 9×5 loaf pan with parchment paper and set aside.

In a medium sauce pan melt the coconut oil over medium heat. Add the honey, shredded coconut, almond flour, and salt and mix until well combined.

We just got back from a lovely trip to San Francisco. Wow, Where do I start! I completely fell in love with everything there! I was pretty much ready to come home, pack our bags, and move there. I thought I had been there when I was a little girl, but after asking my mom and dad, they both said no. It’s one of my dads favorite cities. We grew up our summers on the east coast, so I’ve always had a love for NYC, but this trip had me rethink my love may be closer to me than I thought.

We decided to drive, which was super easy. Eleanor was perfect! We stayed at the Hilton Union Square. We got up every morning and went out for the day. I had a list of places we wanted to go and see (most were food). We don’t normally make lists of things we want to do, see or eat, we like going with the flow, but we had too many places we REALLY wanted to experience. They were all good! We also got a chance to drive over to Sausilito, which is the prettiest little beach town. This meant that we had to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge, which I’m not going to lie, I was a bit terrified. I have a horrible fear of heights. Don’t think the day before I was taunted by the Bay Bridge, when I accidently made a wrong turn, and there was no turning back. YIKES!!! The Golden Gate is so beautiful, and the drive over was easy peasey. I’m not sure how I feel about that Bay Bridge yet????!!!

La Taqueria: a complete hole in the wall (we like those kinds of places), but some damn good tacos. I actually had a burrito and it was delicious, and my husband had the tacos and I tasted them. Stick with the carne asada tacos and burrito.

Bernal Heights park: This place is amazing! You park and walk about 20 minutes to the top, and then you have 360 degree view of SF. It’s worth the hike. We met a local there, and he even said that this was one of the top 3 places to come to see all of SF.

^^^When we arrived, this is how it looked. Still Beautiful, but no snow.^^^

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. We just returned from a 4 day trip to Big Bear, CA. We had a wonderful time with lots of good, fun, friends, and we even made some new ones. All we were hoping for was to see a little snow, and we got it. Yay! I know you east coasters probably think I’m nuts.

We rented a large home and all stayed together, it was perfect. We cooked, acted silly, skied and snowboarded. This was my first time to Big Bear, and I really enjoyed it. It was a 3 1/2 hours from Santa Barbara, so a pretty easy drive.

We went on this trip for a friends birthday, but as we were booking it we realized it will probably be our baby-moon too. I’m taking one more solo trip home, for a baby shower, and then my travel is restricted. Our little lady is going to be here in no time. So excited!!!

Have a great week and I will be back here Wednesday with some midweek links.

Dave and I were invited to a sneak peek of The Fresh Market, in Santa Barbara the other night. We received a tour of the facility, and were offered samplings of many of their products. The Fresh Market, is out of Greensboro, North Carolina, founded in 1982. Santa Barbara is their 152 store. This is a company who wants to be very active in the community, and support many of our local growers and producers. They carry organic and non organic, but always striving for the best choices and quality.

The Fresh Market, has a smoothie, juice, and coffee bar. Along with all of that, they of course have a fresh deli, butcher, seafood, and cheese sections. Oh, and how could I forget, they have an amazing dessert section. The stores design and layout are beautiful. They really have done a wonderful job.

The Fresh Market officially opened Wednesday, December 11. You should definitely stop by and check it out.

Happy Friday! I’ve been looking for some new recipes for Thanksgiving this year. It’s just going to be the two of us (kind of 3, haha.) I’m still going to make us a full Thanksgiving meal. Here are some of the dishes I have my eye on…

Yup, it’s that time of year when making soup is probably what you should be doing. Ha! We are! Comfort food has always found a way to my heart. Must be the Nebraska in me. Now, if only we had a fireplace.

I love that Dave and I are both homebodies, me more than him, but nonetheless we both enjoy home cooked meals. Here are a few soups we plan on making soon.

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